


The Ends of the Earth

by stingingscorpion



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Emotional Hurt, F/F, F/M, Gen, Grief/Mourning, HUGE 302 spoilers, god damn you 302, i wrote this because i'm emo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-28
Updated: 2018-07-28
Packaged: 2019-06-17 14:35:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15463545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stingingscorpion/pseuds/stingingscorpion
Summary: The team remembers their fallen friend.





	The Ends of the Earth

He was the tallest of them, so it was quite ironic how they stared below as he descended. His body, into the earth. His soul, to the heavens above. Their hearts sinking as low as that casket, lower as the dirt piled and piled, until he was gone forever, further than he was already.

He was the only marshal who understood what happened to Jeremy’s mom. The silliest of things: he helped him do a chin-up once. A small gesture, now a shockwave of emotions. Those god damn drugs. If only Rosita was here, to fix it. If only Lucado didn’t make things so difficult. If only Black Badge hadn’t packed up and scurried like rats. Jeremy needed time. An hour more. A day more. A week, a minute, a second—anything. And now his final conversation with Dolls was an argument. _Okay, fine, don’t think about yourself. But we haven’t warned the others—maybe think about them?_ In the moment he didn’t realize Dolls _was_ thinking about them. He was always thinking about them.

There was that dumb package from CSIS, followed by the worst first meeting ever. Epically so. Back then, Nicole never would’ve imagined herself here, at Deputy Marshal Xavier Dolls’s grave— _grave_ —after he threatened to charge her with treason. Shedding a tear, as she was forced to make peace with this unfair, totally un-peaceful turn of events. He was so open to help her with this Cult of Bulshar connection, despite how close they weren’t. She’d heard he was the one who encouraged Waverly to hand over the third seal to save her life from that awful venom. She always imagined solving this with him. The mystery nagging at her, and those massacres. High fives or nodding professionally or whatever they’d do in celebration.

Waverly watched her sister pull a knife on him, watched them “talk” about Wynonna joining BBD. Wanted to kick him when he confiscated her extensive research for BBD’s use. Her life’s work, for god’s sake! The first time she entered his SUV, escaping the homestead from Malcom, Carl, and John. The last time she sat in the car, watching him run off to do something completely insane. And with their lives, that was a high bar to pass. There was the simplest of words, the best thing to hear when she felt her life was about to crumble. He said she was good at what she did, didn’t matter how many Willas came back. Then she felt a much-needed wave of ease wash over. “You called me ‘Earp’,” she’d said, and he smiled a smile she never thought possible of him. He urged her to hand over Doc’s ring, for Nicole’s life. There’s no way he agreed it was a logical gamble, but he knew what it meant to her. That losing Nicole would hurt almost as much as it hurt to lose him.

Doc found his hat in his hand, anger boiling within himself. They fought all the time, from the beginning, in that too-tight interrogation room. So why did it matter? Why did it bug him so much the last time he’d ever spoken to Dolls was to argue? To tell him good deeds were pointless? Doc thought of Hell. The horrors he’d seen. The monsters he brushed across. No clue of Dolls. And no need to consider, because that man, with all his flaws and all his difficulties, was great. A protector. Their leader. Their hero. Without the threat of damnation.

Wynonna was clutching her necklace. That dumb old thing she was always losing. Always in Dolls’s hand on return, ready to find home again. The first time they met, he had it. The Jack of Knives, one of the most horrific experiences of her life, there he was, necklace in hand. When she felt as wounded as she felt now, when she finally got to free him, for once, and let him try to escape Black Badge’s sour hands. He risked death to get it back to her, hanging it off that tree so close to the homestead. Tear running down his cheek. Then off he went, for the unknowns of life on the run. A lifestyle he didn’t deserve.

The panic she felt when she rushed into the barn, the beast inside Dolls taking over, and Dolls desperately kicking it down. The fire, a sight she thought she’d always be happy to see, Jaxon collapsing, and Dolls formally, finally returning to them. The warmth, relief, security she felt when they embraced, the sadness she felt later when they kissed at the Time Master’s home. Then she wanted to bash his skull in for using the boss excuse to hide his real feelings about the pregnancy. Just recently he finally said it, called her his partner. With a smile.

They weren’t perfect. They fought. They argued. They didn’t always find even ground. She was with Doc one minute, staring into his dark eyes the next. Feeling the rush of emotions when they kissed. Spending nights wondering of the past she’d never learn. Feel a little jealous of Eliza, because she had some of those juicy details locked away. How did he first learn of Bass Reeves? Was he scared the first time he was deployed? How did he feel about the stars at night? What was his favorite TV show? Book? Movie? Song? Weird superstitions? Dumbest thing he’d ever done? Why Black Badge had to do this to him, specifically? Why couldn’t they last? Why was this happening to him, and not her? He was supposed to be there, when that last revenant fell. When Bulshar ate her boot. When Alice came home. He was supposed to watch his pupil become the master, using every uptight, by-the-book little thing she learned from him. Get into more squabbles. Watch that small smile he made sometimes, big one on good days.

Dolls wasn’t supposed to be underground, name plate and full, revealed middle name staring back at them. He was supposed to be at Shorty’s. The cop shop. The freezing wilderness. _Inside_ the homestead, not in the earth surrounding, where they buried him. Wynonna insisted on here. It was home. It was where Alice would be some day, running freely with them because the curse would be over. Because Dolls helped, with or without Black Badge. Good or bad for his health. Here, because he was their guardian. Their hero. Their family. He belonged _here_ , with the family. The generations to follow. The generation here, right now, staring down at him and pretending they were going to be okay without him standing by their side.

**Author's Note:**

> What a rollercoaster of an episode, wow. Of course, I will always respect Shamier's choice and feel pride in his accelerating career, and how the writing team truly wanted to do him justice, but ddaammn. Really gonna miss Dolls. Gonna be pretty tough without him.


End file.
